


Director's Cut

by TheRegularWriter



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Steven Universe (Cartoon), Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: (I think?), Author Commentary, Behind the Scenes, Fandoms will be added, Meta, Multi, Personal Canon, So watch out for them if you still want to read this lmao, Tags May Change, This will obviously contain spoilers for my fics, trigger warnings before each chapter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:47:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26682436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRegularWriter/pseuds/TheRegularWriter
Summary: Based on an ask game on Tumblr. Basically a place for me to talk about some of my fanfictions, WIPs and abandoned works. Multifandom.
Kudos: 2





	Director's Cut

**Author's Note:**

> Been meaning to post something like this for funsies. I don't get to ramble about my fanfictions in real life, so I created a safe space for this, lmao.
> 
> Trigger warnings will be added to each chapter, so watch out for them! There will also be spoilers (obviously) for my finished works, so I suggest you don't read this if you haven't checked them out. But you do you, lol.
> 
> Enjoy the ramble session!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Frisk makes a new friend who cannot be seen by anyone else._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNINGS - mentions of bad parenting, abuse and neglect

[ _Imaginary Friend_ ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7587664/chapters/17266141) isn’t my first multi-chaptered story, nor is it my first Undertale story. However, it was my first Gen long fanfiction - meaning it didn’t focus on romance. It was my first step on developing other stories that delved into platonic/familial relationships, and in that regard, I’m quite proud of it. It has turned four years in 2020!

But before it became perhaps one of my most viewed works online, _Imaginary Friend_ used to be called _The Last One to Be Saved_ ; and rather than an individual universe, it was going to be a sequel to my first Undertale story, [ _I Am Here_ ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7515131) . To those who haven’t read it, _I Am Here_ is a little what-if in which Frisk is able to call Papyrus after encountering the Mystery Man. As he’s given the details, Papyrus remembers his long, lost father and begins questioning his disappearance, whereas Sans knew about the accident that took the scientist. By the end, both Sans and Papyrus discover that Gaster is alive but not in their world anymore. Gaster doesn’t leave the Void but he promises he’ll always be there for his sons, a rather bittersweet ending.

Sometime after that, I really enjoyed the thought of a sequel - where Gaster gets to be saved. Yet again, _The Last One to be Saved_ differed a lot from the final product. It starts the same way, Gaster longing to go back home, but instead of Frisk, Papyrus is the one who somehow ends up in the Void and finds his father (again). When he’s given the full details, the skeleton becomes determined to make a plan to save Gaster from the dark prison.

… and that’s pretty much it. I quickly gave up on this first version when I had nothing else to add to the plot. Regardless, I was determined to give Gaster a happy ending.

After that, I came up with yet another version, bearing the same title, but with Frisk now. It begins with Gaster calling for help and the human is relaxing at the garden, when they're transported to the Void. The two talk and the human discovers the Mystery Man's true identity. They're determined to save him, whilst Gaster denies he can break free. However, Frisk is forcibly taken out of the Void and hurts themself when they try to hold onto Gaster. Back in the real world, Papyrus and Toriel find them unconscious and bring them back home to take care of them; the two question Frisk what happened, but the human has no idea whether they'll believe them, so they lie that they were attacked by an animal. When Toriel and Papyrus leave to bake them some pie, the child quietly apologizes to Gaster.

I actually did get to post this concept on AO3, yet I couldn’t enjoy it so I deleted it soon after. Given its way shorter plot, Frisk and Gaster’s friendship wouldn’t have developed much, nor would I have focused on other characters. I think it took me a few weeks or so to write the first chapter for _Imaginary Friend_ , as I took some inspiration from a couple other Frisk & Gaster fics and a fancomic on Tumblr - [ _Some things can't be fixed_ ](https://kerolunaticat.tumblr.com/post/137835107383/some-things-cant-be-fixed-next#notes), by user kerolunaticat. In this comic, Gaster is the “imaginary friend” to a babybones Papyrus, who's willing to help him by going to Hotland to retrieve data in order to fix Gaster’s machine. It doesn't go unnoticed by Sans, who rescues his little brother from falling into the lava and, when realizing the implications of what Papyrus tells him about his "imaginary friend", Sans decides to take matters into his own hands - to the point of locking Papyrus in his room before he could flee again. The comic was never completed, but it was still going by the time I developed my fic.

Just like that, _Imaginary Friend_ was finally born in July of 2016! I was more than flustered to receive nice comments on the premise and hoping to get more chapters, and so I did what I could to keep working on it. I finished the story in roughly a month or so. Even then, it also suffered changes when it was still going. Not when it comes to the first few chapters, but mostly the ending ones were altered over and over. The epilogue was already planned, yet the previous chapters were going to be very different. The machine exploding would still happen, but it wouldn’t have caused the same amount of damage to Alphys’ laboratory at first. It would be less tragic, and, being the angst loving jerk that I am, decided to turn things around.

At first, Sans and Papyrus would never find Frisk’s unconscious body and would instead return home believing that they were gone. The brothers would give the news to Toriel, who aggressively wants to deny it, only for her to break down in tears. Meanwhile, Gaster would awake before Frisk and he would be the first one to see them; the two would reunite and have a heart-to-heart talk. Following that, they would go home and find the other monsters – also including Alphys and Undyne – arguing and blaming one another for what happened to Frisk. Another outcome, of the hospital calling Toriel to reveal that Frisk and Gaster were alive, was also considered. As you can see, neither of these options were included in the final version, for good reasons.

Despite my overall pride of this story, I’ve reread it a couple of times and I realize I would have written a couple things differently. I’ve gone into more details on [ this post ](https://www.deviantart.com/lotusthekat/journal/Imaginary-Friend-a-long-meta-PSA-828967014), so to sum things up: I feel as though I excused bad parenting and neglect throughout my work. I wrote that Gaster felt a lot of sorrow for the way he treated Sans and Papyrus, and for failing the entire Underground; and I never specified whether it was due to the Void distorting reality or if Gaster really was an absent parent. Either way, considering Sans presented the same “pushing away” problem, I don’t feel like I’ve ever held Gaster accountable for the way he treated his children. I even had Frisk, an abuse survivor, make excuses for him (“but you didn’t mean to!”). Reading it again now, it feels very distasteful of me.

Obviously, I won’t condemn (or “cancel”) myself because I never connected the dots, so I’ll leave the original work for how it is. I obviously find something very special in the story, so I will forever cherish it: I even began an official comic adaptation of _Imaginary Friend_ two years ago (it’s been on hiatus but I will not abandon it!), though I’ll make sure I don’t make the mistakes I mentioned before. I’ll also try to include other characters such as Asgore, who I felt I pushed aside for no good reason. As for the fanfiction, I’m not sure if I’ll write more sequels other than [ _You’re Home Now_ ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8318911/chapters/19195780) (warning for Grillby x Gaster in this), but it probably won’t be the last time you’ll see Frisk and Gaster - and Sans and Papyrus - from me.

_* If you want to check out the comic adaptation and updates, go check the official[ Tumblr blog ](https://imaginaryfriendcomic.tumblr.com/) for **Imaginary Friend**! Again, it’s been on hold for some time now, but I post sneak peeks and I answer any questions people might have, if you're interested. _:)


End file.
